SCHOOLS CELEBRATE WOOLWORTHS’ 75th BIRTHDAY BY HARVESTING RAIN

August 1, 2007

Recently, the Woolworths Trust, in celebration of Woolworths’ 75th Birthday, handed over a water tank to Mailakgang Primary School in Mafikeng, North West. This is one of 75 such water tanks that will be given to schools that are part of the Woolworths Trust EduPlant programme, across all nine South African provinces, over the next two months.
Like all the other beneficiaries, Mailakgang Primary School participates in the annual Woolworths Trust EduPlant programme by sustaining a permaculture food garden. The schools that will receive the 75 water tanks over the coming months have been selected on the basis of their lack of infrastructure and access to a trusty supply of water.
“The Woolworths Trust is celebrating Woolworths’ 75th birthday in this way so that we can help to enhance the vital food gardening efforts of some of South Africa’s neediest EduPlant schools,” comments Brian Frost, Chairman of the Woolworths Trust. “We are delighted that we can celebrate this occasion by making a difference in our communities. As a semi-arid country with low rainfall, South Africa needs to do so much more to harvest its rainwater. In addition, many of our communities still lack nearby, uninterrupted connections to running water, and schools struggle to maintain proper sanitation, never mind irrigate their food gardens. ”
The donation is made possible by the funds raised for the Woolworths Trust by Woolworths customers who hold the World of Difference cards and have nominated the Woolworths Trust as their community beneficiary. The Trust receives revenue from the business every time these cardholders swipe their cards at the point of purchase in a Woolworths store.
Frost says, “We think it is wonderful that our customers have selected the Woolworths Trust as their beneficiary, and we will live up to the faith they have placed in us by using the funds to positively affect the lives of our fellow South Africans. Every year, thousands of South African schools take part in Woolworths Trust EduPlant, doing so much with so little. It is fantastic that we can now give 75 of those schools extra and much-needed resources in the form of water-harvesting tanks.”
EduPlant is the flagship social investment programme of the Woolworths Trust. Managed by Food & Trees For Africa, Woolworths Trust EduPlant is the country’s leading schools permaculture food gardening and greening programme that has helped thousands of schools to enhance food security in their communities and to improve the nutrition of their learners.
Rainwater harvesting plays an important role in sustaining a permaculture environment. Permaculture is a natural, resource-efficient method of food gardening and farming that aims to conserve resources and generate more energy than is used in the production of good food.
ENDS
Issued on behalf of: The Woolworths Trust
Issued by: liquidlingo Communications
Contact: Angela Richardson
+27 21 424 1530
angie@liquidlingo.co.za

Recently, the Woolworths Trust, in celebration of Woolworths’ 75th Birthday, handed over a water tank to Mailakgang Primary School in Mafikeng, North West. This is one of 75 such water tanks that will be given to schools that are part of the Woolworths Trust EduPlant programme, across all nine South African provinces, over the next two months.